The video game developer tried to sound as polite as possible when discussing Origin, but struggled for words.

"I have used Origin...it seems...uhh...I mean, they have a lot of work to do, to get to where they want to be and where I as a customer want them to be," he says at about the 25 minute mark.

Origin is, of course, the competition.

Valve's Steam digital distribution service is the most popular and successful onling gaming outlet, though other services such as Gamersgate and Good Old Games are gaining, uh, steam.

And while Newell does say he'd love to have EA titles back on Steam - many of the blockbusters have been made Origin-exclusive - he can't find it in himself to even damn with faint praise, though he does manage to lay it down gently.

When Seven Day Cooldown host Jack Inacker asks if Origin is doing anything right, at first all we get is silence.

After a very long, uncomfortable pause - time in which one imagines Newell trying hard to think of how to say this as nicely as possible - Newell replies:

"Well, I don't want to dodge the question. Now, I don't think they're really doing anything super well, yet. They have a bunch of smart people working on it, but I think they're still playing catch-up to a lot of people who have been working in the space for a while."

Will EA get Origin right eventually? We can't say for sure, but I'm dubious at the moment.

The real flaw with the service is exclusivity - releasing big EA titles only on Origin limits player choice, and could lead to backlash.

It also means that EA will be sheltered, to some degree, from competition. If customers could choose to go with other services, at the very least EA could respond by improving their own. Playing catch-up is much more difficult if you've insulated yourself from cause and effect.